The Importance of Dates
by Lunawrayth
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is understanding that what makes things important are the people in our lives.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It was with some surprise that Sakura discovered how important holidays and birthdays were to Naruto. It started with a card and a pink teddy on her birthday, a small package on her window sill on Christmas and finally a soft black cat with a witch's hat on Halloween. Sakura came to the silent and startling conclusion that while none of the items besides the card had signatures on them they had to be from Naruto. This all started the year Sasuke left the village and on her birthday the next year Naruto was gone but a card arrived promptly on time. Every holiday he was gone she found a small brown wrapped package in the mail, little trinkets from the places he visited with Jiraya. She found herself looking forward to these little gifts, a smile on her lips every time she opened one to find a small pressed flower from rain country, a pearl hair comb, a porcelain egg wrapped in bubble wrap.

It took longer than it should for her to realize Naruto did this for others as well. Knowing Naruto as well as she did, it should have been obvious why he did it but she couldn't figure it out. So year after year she received the gifts and began to send him gifts of her own. Spending time talking to others, the rookie nine, Iruka and even Kakashi to see what they'd received and what they'd given so that he never got the same thing from any two of them. It turned into a kind of ritual and rite to life that they all followed.

When Naruto left on long missions the gifts still came, on time and personalized and when he returned home he found his waiting there. One day after meeting up with him for ramen and training she found the courage to ask, "Why?" and the silence the followed made her wonder if she'd been right to ask. When he finally spoke Naruto had a small smile on his face and his voice was serious and quiet.

"It started as an experiment, I knew the dates and the reasons they were supposed to be important. I knew that they were days meant for family, for love and closeness. You give gifts to show you care and that you're thinking of someone. I knew the reasons and yet I'd never experienced that. "

Sakura's breath caught in her throat and she wanted badly to touch him to ease some of the long ago pain that surfaced in his words.

"I wanted to see what it felt like, but of course I had no family. No one sent me gifts and the dates that I knew meant nothing. Until Iruka-sensei, until Team 7. I knew it could be pity that made him treat me to ramen and obligation that made you watch my back on missions but I decided I had nothing to lose. So I sent you a card and a teddy because girls like teddies."

There were tears in her eyes and she couldn't find the words to express how she felt. Naruto was quiet for a minute taking a breath and forcing the words out.

" You didn't throw it in my face so I assumed….I wanted to believe that you were happy, that you liked it and that it meant something. So I kept doing it, and then I sent something to Iruka-sensei and then Kakashi-sensei. They didn't say anything about it and so it went on and as each member of the village acknowledged me and as I grew to know them I realized that the dates were unimportant, they're an excuse to share your feelings, a way of….."

He paused, drew another breath and smiled, a true Naruto smile.

"I spend more money each year on cards and gifts, than I do on ramen. I have a book in my room that has names and dates in it. I may not be Hokage yet but this village is my family and you share holidays with family, right?"

Sakura smiled and nodded through the tears running down her face and she realized just how special the man next to her was.

When Naruto took his place as Hokage he kept a large log book of names and dates and every villager and every foreign friend received a card. Babies were reason to send gifts, birthdays and holidays. The village was his family.

It started with a card and soon it was ten, then thirteen. Three years later it was one hundred and two years after that it was a thousand. Naruto loved his birthday, he set aside special time to read all the cards from his family.


End file.
